Psalm 91 commentary

PSALM 91 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
I TRODUCTIO
SPURGEO , "This Psalm is without a title, and we have no means of ascertaining
either the name of its writer, or the date of its composition, with certainly. The
Jewish doctors consider that when the author's name is not mentioned we may
assign the Psalm to the last named writer; and, if so, this is another Psalm of Moses,
the man of God. Many expressions here used are similar to those of Moses in
Deuteronomy, and the internal evidence, from the peculiar idioms, would point
towards him as the composer. The continued lives of Joshua and Caleb, who
followed the Lord fully, make remarkably apt illustrations of this Psalm, for they, as
a reward for abiding in continued nearness to the Lord, lived on "amongst the dead,
amid their graves." For these reasons it is by no means improbable that this Psalm
may have been written by Moses, but we dare not dogmatize. If David's pen was
used in giving us this matchless ode, we cannot believe as some do that he this
commemorated the plague which devastated Jerusalem on account of his numbering
the people. For him, then, to sing of himself as seeing "the reward of the wicked"
would be clean contrary to his declaration, "I have sinned, but these sheep, what
have they done?"; and the absence of any allusion to the sacrifice upon Zion could
not be in any way accounted for, since David's repentance would inevitably have led
him to dwell upon the atoning sacrifice and the sprinkling of blood by the hyssop.
In the whole collection there is not a more cheering Psalm, its tone is elevated and
sustained throughout, faith is at its best, and speaks nobly. A German physician was
wont to speak of it as the best preservative in times of cholera, and in truth, it is a
heavenly medicine against plague and pest. He who can live in its spirit will be
fearless, even if once again London should become a lazar-house, and the grave be
gorged with carcases.
DIVISIO . On this occasion we shall follow the divisions which our translators
have placed at the head of the Psalm, for they are pithy and suggestive.
Psalms 91:1-2 â€”The state of the godly.
Psalms 91:3-8 â€”Their safety.
Psalms 91:9-10 â€”Their habitation.
Psalms 91:11-13 â€”Their servants.
Psalms 91:14-16 â€”Their friend; with the effects of them all.
COKE, "THIS psalm has no title, and therefore is likely to be by the same author
with the foregoing; but this is still more probable from the subject of it: for as the
90th psalm appears calculated for the use of those who were to die in the wilderness,
so the present seems evidently designed for those who were to survive this
threatened devastation, and whom therefore he arms against the fear of death, by a

religious trust in God; with the promise of a miraculous protection to such as
trusted in him. Both psalms seem to have been composed soon after the irrevocable
decree was passed, umbers 14 which condemned one part of them, all who were
numbered from twenty years old and upwards, to a lingering death in the
wilderness, and their little ones to a forty years wandering for their father's sins;
but with a gracious promise, however, that they should at length obtain an entrance
into the land of Canaan. Both sorts, therefore, stood in need of support and
consolation, though of a different kind; and we find it given them in these two
psalms. The younger sort are thus instructed and encouraged: He that dwelleth, &c.
Psalms 91:1-4. Peters.
1 Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.[a]
BAR ES, "He that dwelleth - Everyone that so dwells. The proposition is
universal, and is designed to embrace all who are in this condition. It is true of one; it is
true of all. The word rendered “dwelleth” here is a participle from the verb to “sit,” and
here means “sitting:” literally, “sitting in the secret place,” etc. The idea is that of calm
repose; of resting; of sitting down - as one does in his dwelling.
In the secret place - On the meaning of this see the notes at Psa_27:5. Compare
Psa_31:20; Psa_32:7. Abiding where God abides. The idea is that of having one’s home
or residence in the most holy place in the tabernacle or the temple, and of sitting with
him in that sacred place.
Of the Most High - Of God, represented as exalted above all; over all the universe.
Shall abide - Margin, as in Hebrew, “lodge.” That is his home - his resting place -
where he lodges, or passes the night. He takes up his lodging there; he makes it his
home.
Under the shadow of the Almighty - Under his protection, as if under his wings.
Compare the notes at Psa_17:8. This is a general statement, and is designed as an
introduction to the whole psalm, or as expressing what the psalm is intended to
illustrate, “the blessedness” of the man who thus dwells with God; who makes him his
friend; who makes the home of God his home.
CLARKE, "He that dwelleth in the secret place - The Targum intimates that
this is a dialogue between David, Solomon, and Jehovah. Suppose we admit this, - then

David asserts: “He who dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under
the shadow of the Almighty,” Psa_91:1.
Solomon answers: “I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in
him will I trust,” Psa_91:2.
David replies, and tells him what blessings he shall receive from God if he abide
faithful, Psa_91:3-13.
Then the Supreme Being is introduced, and confirms all that David had spoken
concerning Solomon, Psa_91:14-16 : and thus this sacred and instructive dialogue ends.
In the secret place of the Most High - Spoken probably in reference to the Holy
of holies. He who enters legitimately there shall be covered with the cloud of God’s glory
- the protection of the all-sufflcient God. This was the privilege of the high priest only,
under the law: but under the new covenant all believers in Christ have boldness to enter
tnto the holiest by the blood of Jesus; and those who thus enter are safe from every evil.
GILL, "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High,.... Or the
Supreme; a title of God, who is superior to all beings, the Creator and Preserver of them,
God over all, higher than the highest of angels or men; see Gen_14:22, "his secret place"
is his heart, his bosom, where his only begotten Son lies; and into which he takes his
people, where they are set as a seal, and who enjoy intimate communion with him;
which is no other than his gracious presence, called "the secret of his presence", Psa_
31:20, which none but saints are admitted to, when his everlasting love, which was a
secret in his heart, is made known unto them, and in which they also dwell, 1Jo_4:16, as
they likewise do in the eternal decree of election; which perhaps is meant by "the clefts of
the rock, and secret places of the stairs", where the church is said to dwell, Son_2:14,
unless rather Christ the Rock, and who may be signified by the cleft of that Moses was
put into, when the goodness of the Lord passed before him, is intended; and who is the
hiding place from the wind: mention is made of "the secret" of God's "tabernacle", Psa_
27:5, in which he hides his people; alluding to the tabernacle, or temple, and the most
holy place in it, called his secret place, Eze_7:22, and may refer to the ministry of the
word and ordinances, where saints dwell, and enjoy much communion with God; and
who are particularly under his special providence, protection, and power; which may
here be designed:
shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty: who is able to do all things for his
people, and is "Shaddai", all sufficient, as this word is thought to signify; has a
sufficiency of happiness in and for himself, and of provisions for all his creatures, and of
power and grace for his own children: his "shadow" may be the same with his secret
place, his power and protection, often in this book of Psalms called "the shadow of his
wings", Psa_17:8, in allusion to birds that overshadow and protect their young with their
wings; though perhaps the allusion here may be to the shadow of a tree, and design the
word and ordinances of the Lord's house, which are a delightful, refreshing, reviving,
and fruitful shadow, Son_2:3, where gracious souls dwell, and abide with great delight
and pleasure. Christ, the Son of God, is sometimes compared to the shadow of a rock, or
tree, which screens and shelters from heat; as he preserves his people from the heat of a
fiery law, the flaming sword of justice, the wrath of God, the fiery darts of Satan, and the
fury of persecutors: under this shadow do they abide or lodge all night, safe and secure,
as the word (o) signifies: the Targum calls this shadow the shadow of the clouds of glory;
the Arabic version, "the shadow of the God of heaven."

HE RY, "I. A great truth laid down in general, That all those who live a life of
communion with God are constantly safe under his protection, and may therefore
preserve a holy serenity and security of mind at all times (Psa_91:1): He that dwells, that
sits down, in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the
Almighty; he that by faith chooses God for his guardian shall find all that in him which
he needs or can desire. Note, 1. It is the character of a true believer that he dwells in the
secret place of the Most High; he is at home in God, returns to God, and reposes in him
as his rest; he acquaints himself with inward religion, and makes heart-work of the
service of God, worships within the veil, and loves to be alone with God, to converse with
him in solitude. 2. It is the privilege and comfort of those that do so that they abide
under the shadow of the Almighty; he shelters them, and comes between them and
every thing that would annoy them, whether storm or sunshine. They shall not only have
an admittance, but a residence, under God's protection; he will be their rest and refuge
for ever.
JAMISO , "Psa_91:1-16. David is the most probable author; and the pestilence,
mentioned in 2Sa_24:13-15, the most probable of any special occasion to which the
Psalm may refer. The changes of person allowable in poetry are here frequently made.
dwelleth in the secret place — (Psa_27:5; Psa_31:20) denotes nearness to God.
Such as do so abide or lodge secure from assaults, and can well use the terms of trust in
Psa_91:2.
K&D 1-2, "As the concealing One, God is called ‫ּון‬‫י‬ ְ‫ל‬ ֶ‫,ע‬ the inaccessibly high One; and
as the shadowing One ‫י‬ ַ ַ‫,שׁ‬ the invincibly almighty One. Faith, however, calls Him by His
covenant name (Heilsname) ‫יהוה‬ and, with the suffix of appropriation, ‫י‬ ַ‫ּה‬‫ל‬ ֱ‫א‬ (my God). In
connection with Psa_91:1 we are reminded of the expressions of the Book of Job, Job_
39:28, concerning the eagle's building its nest in its eyrie. According to the accentuation,
Psa_91:2 ought to be rendered with Geier, “Dicit: in Domino meo (or Domini)
latibulum, etc.” But the combination ‫לה‬ ‫ר‬ ַ‫ּמ‬‫א‬ is more natural, since the language of
address follows in both halves of the verse.
SBC, "These are the words of one who had known almost more than any other man of
the shafts of unkindness, and the arrows of death, and the cruel torments of life. None,
probably, save only David’s Son, ever equalled David in the degree in which he had
passed through all the sympathies of our common nature. And this is his testimony, that
in the midst of all there is a "place," a "secret place," as deep in its secrecy as God is high
in His omnipotence, shadowed over by the hand of God.
I. What is meant by the secret place? The secret of the whole of the Old Testament is the
Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore to the mind of David—i.e., in its first intention—the
expression, "the secret place of the Most High," would certainly connect itself with
Christ.
II. The Psalmist designates the man who "dwells" in the secret place. It is a beautiful
idea—the man who has his home in Christ. It is to have Jesus all round us—our covering,
our beauty, our defence, our rest.
III. Every promise has in it the dignity and the security of prophecy. "He shall abide."

The image assures us of two things: (1) safety; (2) peace. He who refreshes himself in
Christ has a refuge to which he can return again and again, and it is always there. It is
the same "yesterday, today, and for ever."
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 9th series, p. 134.
References: Psa_91:1.— J. N. Norton, Every Sunday, p. 257. Psa_91:1, Psa_91:2.—
R. S. Candlish, The Gospel of Forgiveness, p. 227. Psa_91:2.— Spurgeon, Sermons,
vol. xxii., No. 1297. Psa_91:3.— Ibid., vol. iii., No. 124. Psa_91:4.—Ibid., vol. xv., No.
902. Psa_91:11.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xv., p. 143; J. H. Keble, Sermons for
Saints’ Days, p. 372.
Psalms 91:1-2
Three parties speak in this Psalm: the witness for God, the brother in peril, and God
Himself.
I. The witness for God, the sympathising friend of the party exposed to danger, speaking
from his own experience, declares generally, "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the
Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty" (Psa_91:1, and see also Psa_
91:9). Three lessons are taught in that inner school: (1) That God is true, true to Himself
and true to you. (2) In your new dwelling-place you see the reward of the wicked. (3) You
learn that there are members of the family not involved in your peril who yet are deeply
and affectionately interested in your safety: "He shall give His angels charge over thee,"
etc.
II. The second party in this discourse and dialogue—the brother in peril—says very little.
But the little which he does say is very comprehensive: "I will say of the Lord, He is my
refuge and my fortress, my God; in Him will I trust" (Psa_91:2). It is a prompt response
to the very first appeal made to him. It is the language not of faith only, but of love.
III. What God Himself is overheard to say at the close of the Psalm is the glorious
corner-stone of this edifice of confidence. (1) Mark the cause assigned by the Lord for
the warm interest which He feels in His servant thus exposed: "He has set his love upon
Me; he has known My name." (2) Mark how the Lord speaks, connecting His servant’s
love to Him and knowledge of His name with His own purpose of deliverance and
exaltation, as if His honour were concerned to make it plain that the love is not
misplaced: "I will deliver him." (3) Mark what the Lord expects on the part of His
servant: "He shall call upon Me." (4) Mark the assurance of the Lord’s gracious
interposition, answering to His servant’s calling upon Him: "He shall call upon Me, and I
will answer him," etc. (5) Nor is it to be all trouble with the man of God while he is
fighting the good fight and finishing his course. Nay, there is so much enjoyment for him
as to make him rather wish for its continuance, and welcome the concluding promise
which he hears the Lord giving: "With long life will I satisfy him, and show him My
salvation."
R. S. Candlish, The Gospel of Forgiveness, p. 227.
CALVI , "1He that dwelleth in the secret place of the High One. Some Hebrew
interpreters read the three first verses as one continuous sentence, down to the
words, he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler The whole would then run

thus — “He who dwells in the covert of the Most High, and abides under his
shadow, to him will I say of Jehovah, that he is his hope and defense, and the God in
whom he may safely rest, for he shall deliver him from the snare,” etc. This is
evidently a forced construction to put upon the verses, and the reason which has led
some to adopt it is weak and insufficient. They consider that the first verse repeats
the same thing twice, and therefore conveys no proper meaning. But this is a great
mistake; for the inspired penman of the psalm, whoever he may have been, states
two ideas quite distinct, That he who is hid under the Divine protection occupies a
safe and secure position, where no hostile weapon can reach him. Or should the
verse be read — He who has God to be the guardian of his safety shall rest under
the shadow of God; still the second clause would retain an emphatic meaning, for
the power of God would be contrasted with that weak defense which man is able to
extend. Those, too, who dwell in the secret place of God are here said by the
Psalmist to dwell under his shadow, in the sense that they experience to what a rich
extent his protection reaches. Men generally seek out a great-variety of hiding-
places, having recourse to one or another, according as the calamities are different
which threaten to overtake them; but here we are taught that the only safe and
impregnable fortress to which we can betake ourselves is the protection of God. He
contrasts the security of those who trust in God with the vanity of all other
confidences by which we are apt to delude ourselves.
SPURGEO , "Ver. 1. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High. The
blessings here promised are not for all believers, but for those who live in close
fellowship with God. Every child of God looks towards the inner sanctuary and the
mercyseat, yet all do not dwell in the most holy place; they run to it at times, and
enjoy occasional approaches, but they do not habitually reside in the mysterious
presence. Those who through rich grace obtain unusual and continuous communion
with God, so as to abide in Christ and Christ in them, become possessors of rare and
special benefits, which are missed by those who follow afar off, and grieve the Holy
Spirit of God. Into the secret place those only come who know the love of God in
Christ Jesus, and those only dwell there to whom to live is Christ. To them the veil is
rent, the mercyseat is revealed, the covering cherubs are manifest, and the awful
glory of the Most High is apparent: these, like Simeon, have the Holy Ghost upon
them, and like Anna they depart not from the temple; they are the courtiers of the
Great King, the valiant men who keep watch around the bed of Solomon, the virgin
souls who follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. Elect out of the elect, they have
"attained unto the first three", and shall walk with their Lord in white, for they are
worthy. Sitting down in the august presence chamber where shines the mystic light
of the Sheckinah, they know what it is to be raised up together, and to be made to sit
together with Christ in the heavenlies, and of them it is truly said that their
conversation is in heaven. Special grace like theirs brings with it special immunity.
Outer court worshippers little know what belongs to the inner sanctuary, or surely
they would press on until the place of nearness and divine familiarity became theirs.
Those who are the Lord's constant guests shall find that he will never suffer any to
be injured within his gates; he has eaten the covenant salt with them, and is pledged
for their protection.

Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. The Omnipotent Lord will shield all
those who dwell with him, they shall remain under his care as guests under the
protection of their host. In the most holy place the wings of the cherubim were the
most conspicuous objects, and they probably suggested to the psalmist the
expression here employed. Those who commune with God are safe with Him, no evil
can reach them, for the outstretched wings of his power and love cover them from
all harm. This protection is constantâ€”they abide under it, and it is all sufficient,
for it is the shadow of the Almighty, whose omnipotence will surely screen them
from all attack. o shelter can be imagined at all comparable to the protection of
Jehovah's own shadow. The Almighty himself is where his shadow is, and hence
those who dwell in his secret place are shielded by himself. What a shade in the day
of noxious heat! What a refuge in the hour of deadly storm! Communion with God
is safety. The more closely we cling to our Almighty Father the more confident may
we be.
EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.
Whole Psalm. The Talmud writers ascribe not only the ninety-first Psalm, but the
nine ensuing, to the pen of Moses; but from a rule which will in no respect hold, that
all the psalms which are without the name of an author in their respective titles are
the production of the poet whose name is given in the nearest preceding title. And
though it is impossible to prove that this highly beautiful ode was not written by
David, the general drift of its scenery and allusions rather concur in showing that,
like the last, we are indebted for it to the muse of Moses: that it was composed by
him during the journey through the wilderness, shortly after the plague of the fiery
serpents; when the children of Israel, having returned to a better spirit, were again
received into the favour of JEHOVAH. Besides political enemies, the children of
Israel in the wilderness had other evils in great numbers to encounter, from the
nature and diseases of the climate, which exposed them to coups de soleil, or sun
smiting, during the heat of the day; and to pestilential vapours, moon smiting,
during the damp of the night, so as to render the miraculous canopy of the cloud
that hung over them in the former season, and the miraculous column of fire that
cheered and purified them in the latter, equally needful and refreshing. In Egypt,
they had seen so much of the plague, and they had been so fearfully threatened with
it as a punishment for disobedience, that they could not but be in dread of its
reappearance, from the incessant fatigues of their journeying. In addition to all
which, they had to be perpetually on their guard against the insidious attacks of the
savage monsters and reptiles of "that great and terrible wilderness", as Moses
describes it on another occasion, "wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and
drought; where there was no water" (De 8:15); and where, also, as we learn from
other parts of Scripture, bears, lions, leopards or tigers, and "the wolf of the
evening", as Jeremiah has beautifully expressed it, prowled without restraint. ow
in the Psalm before us, and especially in Psalms 91:6-13, we have so clear and
graphic a description of the whole of these evils presented to us, as to bring its
composition directly home to the circumstances and the period here pitched upon,
and to render it at least needless to hunt out for any other occasion. J. M. Good's
"Historical Outline of the Book of Psalms", 1842.
Whole Psalm. It is one of the most excellent works of this kind which has ever
appeared. It is impossible to imagine anything more solid, more beautiful, more

profound, or more ornamented. Could the Latin or any modern language express
thoroughly all the beauties and elegancies as well of the words as of the sentences, it
would not be difficult to persuade the reader that we have no poem, either in Greek
or Latin, comparable to this Hebrew ode. Simon de Muis.
Whole Psalm. Psalms 90:1-17 spoke of man withering away beneath God's anger
against sin. Psalms 91:1-16 tells of a Man, who is able to tread the lion and adder
under His feet. â€”Undoubtedly the Tempter was right in referring this Psalm to
"the Son of God" (Matthew 4:6).
The imagery of the Psalm seems to be in part drawn from that Passover ight, when
the Destroying Angel passed through Egypt, while the faithful and obedient
Israelites were sheltered by God. William Kay.
Ver. 1. He, no matter who he may be, rich or poor, learned or unlearned, patrician
or plebeian, young or old, for "God is no respecter of persons", but "he is rich to all
that call upon him." Bellarmine.
Ver. 1. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High. ote, he who dwells in
the secret place of the Most High is not he that conjures up one or two slight and
fleeting acts of hope in Him, but the man that places in him an assiduous and
constant confidence. In this way he establishes for himself in God by that full trust,
a home, a dwelling place, a mansion, ...The Hebrew for he that dwelleth, is bvy, that
is, dwelling in quietude, and resting, enduring and remaining with constancy. Le
Blanc.
Ver. 1. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High. What intimate and
unrestrained communion does this describe! â€”the Christian in everything making
known his heart, with its needs and wishes, its thoughts and feelings, its doubts and
anxieties, its sorrows and its joys, to God, as to a loving, perfect friend. And all is
not on one side. This Almighty Friend has admitted his chosen one to his "secret
place." It is almost too wonderful to be true. It is almost too presumptuous a
thought for such creatures as we are to entertain. But He himself permits it, desires
it, teaches us to realise that it is communion to which he calls us. "The secret of the
Lord is with them that fear him." And what is this "secret"? It is that in God which
the world neither knows, nor sees, nor cares to enjoy. It is his mind revealed to those
that love him, his plans, and ways ("He made known his ways to Moses", Psalms
103:7), and thoughts opened to them. Yea, and things hid from angels are manifest
to the least of his friends (1 Peter 1:12). He wishes us to know him, and by his Word
and by his Spirit he puts himself before us. Ah! it is not his fault if we do not know
him. It is our own carelessness. Mary B. M. Duncan, in "Under the Shadow", 1867.
Ver. 1. By secret here is meant a place of refuge from the storms of the world under
the secret of his providence, who careth for all his children. Also, by the secret of the
most High, some writers understand the castle of his mighty defence, to which his
people run, being pursued by enemies, as the wild creature doth to his hole or den
for succour, when the hunter hath him in chase, and the dogs are near. This then
being the meaning of that which the prophet calleth the "secret place of the most
High", and our dwelling in it, by confidence in him; we learn, in all troubles, to
cleave to God chiefly or only for help, and to means but as underlings to his
providence...
That which is here translated dwelleth, is as much in weight as sitteth, or is settled;
and so, our dwelling in God's secret, is as much as our sitting down in it: the

meaning is, we must make it our rest, as if we should say, Here will we dwell. From
whence we learn, that God's children should not come to God's secret place as
guests to an inn, but as inhabitants to their own dwellings; that is, they should
continue to trust in God, as well in want as in fulness; and as much when they
wither in their root, as when they flourish in it. Robert Horn.
Ver. 1. He that dwelleth, etc.
1. "He dwells", therefore he shall "abide." He shall lodge quietly, securely.
2. "He dwells in the secret place", therefore he shall "abide under the shadow." In
the cool, the favour, the cover from the heat
3. "He dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, therefore he shall abide under
the shadow of the Almighty; "i.e., of the all powerful God, of the God of heaven; of
that God whose name is Shaddai, All sufficient. Adam Clarke.
Ver. 1. Shall abide. The Hebrew for "shall abide" is kwlty, which signifies, he
shall pass the night. Abiding denotes a constant and continuous dwelling of the just
in the assistance and protection of God. That help and protection of God is not like a
lodge in a garden of cucumbers, or in a vineyard; which is destroyed in a moment,
nor is it like a tent in the way which is abandoned by the traveller. It is a strong
tower, a paternal home, wherein we spend all our life with the best, wealthiest, and
mightiest of parents. Passing the night also denotes security and rest in time of
darkness, temptations and calamities. With God Abraham passed the night, when
He foretold to him the affliction of his descendants in Egypt, and their deliverance,
Genesis 15:12-16. Then also God said to him (Genesis 15:1), Fear not Abram. I am
thy shield. And leading him forth he showed him the glittering stars, and said, Tell
the number of the stars, if thou bc able; so shall thy seed be. Le Blanc.
Ver. 1. The shadow. The allusion of this verse may be to the awful and mystic
symbols of the ark. Under the ancient ceremony, the high priest only could enter,
and that but once a year, into the holy place, where stood the emblems of the divine
glory and presence; but under the present bright and merciful dispensation, every
true believer has access, with boldness, into the holiest of all; and he who now
dwelleth in the secret place of prayer and communion with the God of salvation,
shall find the divine mercy and care spread over him for his daily protection and
solace. John Morison.
Ver. 1. Under the shadow of the Almighty. This is an expression which implies great
nearness. We must walk very close to a companion, if we would have his shadow fall
on us. Can we imagine any expression more perfect in describing the constant
presence of God with his chosen ones, than thisâ€”they shall "abide under his
shadow"? In Solomon's beautiful allegory, the Church in a time of special
communion with Christ, says of himâ€”"I sat down under his shadow with great
delight" (Song of Solomon 2:3) â€”"sat down", desiring not to leave it, but to abide
there for ever. And it is he who chooses to dwell in the secret place of the most High,
who shall "abide under the shadow of the Almighty." There is a condition and a
promise attached to it. The condition is, that we "dwell in the secret place, "â€”the
promise, that if we do so we "shall abide under the shadow." It is of importance to
view it thus. For when we remember the blessing is a promised blessingâ€”we are
led to feel it is a giftâ€”a thing therefore to be prayed for in faith, as well as sought
for by God's appointed means. Ah, the hopes that this awakens! My wandering,
wavering, unstable heart, that of itself cannot keep to one course two days together

is to seek its perseverance from God, and not in its own strength. He will hold it to
him if it be but seeking for stedfastness. It is not we who cling to him. It is he who
keeps near to us. Mary B. M. Duncan.
Ver. 1-4, 9. 0 you that be in fear of any danger, leave all carnal shifts, and carking
counsels, and projects, and dwell in the rock of God's power and providence, and be
like the dove that nestles in the holes of the rock; by faith betake yourselves unto
God, by faith dwell in that rock, and there nestle yourselves, make your nests of
safety in the clefts of this rock. But how may we do this thing, and what is the way to
do it? Do this, â€”Set thy faith on work to make God that unto thee which thy
necessity requires, pitch and throw thyself upon his power and providence, with a
resolution of spirit to rest thyself upon it for safety, come what will come. See an
excellent practice of this, Psalms 91:1, He that dwelleth in the secret place of the
most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty; that is, he shall be safe
from all fears and dangers. Aye, that is true, you will say, who makes any doubt of
it? But how shall a man come to dwell, and get into this secret place, within this
strong tower? See Psalms 91:2 : I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my
fortress; as if he had said, I will not only say, that he is a refuge; but he is my refuge,
I will say to the Lord; that is, I will set my faith on work in particular, to throw,
devolve, and pitch myself upon him for my safety. And see what follows upon this
setting faith thus on work, Psalms 91:3-4 : Surely he shall deliver thee from the
snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his
feathers, etc. So confident the Psalmist is that upon this course taken, safety shall
follow.
Our safety lies not simply upon this, because God is a refuge, and is an habitation,
but "Because thou hast made the Lord which is my refuge, thy habitation, there
shall no evil befall thee, "etc. It is therefore the making of God our habitation, upon
which our safety lies; and this is the way to make God an habitation, thus to pitch
and cast ourselves by faith upon his power and providence. Jeremiah Dyke.
Ver. 1. We read of a stag that roamed about in the greatest security, by reason of its
having a label on its neck, "Touch me not, I belong to Caesar": thus the true
servants of God are always safe, even among lions, bears, serpents, fire, water,
thunder, and tempests; for all creatures know and reverence the shadow of God.
Bellarmine.
BE SO , "Psalms 91:1. He that dwelleth in the secret place, &c. — He that makes
God his habitation and refuge, as he is called Psalms 91:9, that has recourse to him,
and relies on him in his dangers and difficulties; that has access to him, intercourse
with him, and worships within the veil, living a life of constant communion with
him; shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty — He shall not be disappointed
of his hope, but shall find a quiet and safe resting- place under the divine care. A
shadow, in Scripture, often signifies protection. But there evidently seems to be an
allusion to the most holy place in the tabernacle and temple, and to the outstretched
wings of the cherubim covering the ark and mercy-seat: see notes on Psalms 27:5;
Psalms 32:7. And it is as if the psalmist had said, He shall dwell like the ark in the
holy of holies, under the immediate shadow and protection of the Divine Majesty. It
is justly observed here by Dr. Horne, that “in all dangers, whether spiritual or
corporal, the members of Christ’s mystical body may reflect, with comfort, that they

are under the same almighty Protector.”
ELLICOTT, "God’s Inner Circle
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.—Psalms 91:1.
The beauty of the language of this poem fitly corresponds to the grandeur of the
thoughts which it conveys. The Psalmist here sings “to one clear harp in divers
tones”; and the central thought which he exhibits in its different aspects is that of
God’s response to man. For every advance on man’s part there is an immediate and
corresponding advance on God’s part. When man goes out to seek God, God meets
him more than half-way. When he calls upon God, God will answer him. Loving
faith on man’s part will be met by faithful love on the part of God. This is in the
first verse, of which the whole psalm is an expansion. If man dwells “in the secret
place of the Most High,” he shall abide “under the shadow of the Almighty.” We
have here the condition and promise.
In his later years, Calvin’s colleague at Geneva was Theodore de Beza (1519–1605),
the writer of the metrical version of Psalms 68, which was the battle-song of the
Huguenots. Taste for the culture of the Renaissance, passion for poetry, worldly
success and fame, had weakened the impression of the religious training of his
youth. A dangerous illness revived his former feelings. Escaping from the bondage
of Egypt, as he called his previous life, he took refuge with Calvin at Geneva. In
1548, when he for the first time attended the service of the Reformed Assembly, the
congregation was singing Psalms 91, “Whoso dwelleth under the defence of the Most
High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” He never forgot the effect of
the words. They supported him in all the difficulties of his subsequent life; they
conquered his fears, and gave him courage to meet every danger.1 [ ote: R. E.
Prothero, The Psalms in Human Life, 185.]
“The 91st Psalm is a mountain of strength to all believers”; so General Gordon
wrote from Gravesend in 1869, one of the six quiet years which he used to speak of
as the happiest of his life. Again, thirteen years later, in January 1882, he wrote thus
from Mauritius: “I dwell more or less (I wish it were more) under the shadow of the
Almighty.”
I
In the Secret Place
1. “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High.” We get the clearest idea
of the meaning of this phrase by an examination of the different passages in the
Psalms where the word here translated “secret place” occurs. Thus in Psalms 31:20,
we read: “Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence”; also in Psalms 83:3,
where another form of the same word occurs, we read of God’s “hidden ones.”
From these and similar passages we find that the word is usually connected with the
idea of a fugitive hiding from his pursuers. It calls up before us the picture of a man
running away from his enemies. Weary and panting, he knows not where to hide
himself, and in his despair he flees to some friend of his and seeks protection, and
the friend hides him in a secret place. The fugitive gives his all into the keeping of

his friend. He places his life in his friend’s hands, and he has now power of life and
death over him. So, then, the man who dwells in “the secret place of the Most High”
is he who ventures his all upon God. With a sure and steadfast trust, with a simple
but unwavering faith, he gives himself, his all, into the keeping of God. He
surrenders himself to God, and by that very act he is taken near to God; he is put in
the secret place of the Most High and becomes one of “God’s hidden ones.” By his
act of absolute self-surrender he has attained to that state which the Apostle Paul
describes in language very similar to that of the Psalmist—only going a little further
than the latter with his imperfect light could go—when he says, “Ye died, and your
new life is hid with Christ in God.”
We are like vessels which are near a lee shore in the night. The darkness of the open
sea is safer for the skilled seaman than the line of the shore. Our safety is to stand
out in the bosom of the dark; it is to press into the mysteries of God. Why is it that
our moral nature, even the religious, is too often shallow and poverty-stricken? It is
because we do not pursue the growing knowledge of God on our own account. We
are religious, or at least we are always in danger of being religious, without spiritual
growth, and spiritual growth surely means spiritual insight. We cease to become
sensible of spiritual enrichment. We come to a time of life when we are content to
say, “I get no secrets from God now.” Revelations do not arrive; doors are not
opened in Heaven; new vistas of faith do not spread away before the soul. Faith runs
on upon the level, and it does not mount, and it does not soar. God becomes by habit
a uniform Presence to us. He is not denied. We do not venture to deny Him. I was
almost going to say we had not the courage to deny Him. But, at any rate, we do not
deny Him. We only disregard Him, like the air and the sky. We do not give our
minds seriously and deliberately to realizing Him. We do not pore upon Him until
fold after fold removes, and depth after depth opens, and we look into His heart.
The secret, the secret of the Most High is not with us.1 [ ote: P. T. Forsyth.]
2. While this is the general idea, it is possible that the immediate figure of “the secret
place” may have been borrowed from the arrangements and appointments of the
Temple. There was the vast outside world stretching on every side beyond the
Temple walls; then the outer courts of the Temple; then the inner chambers and
precincts; then the Holy Place with its golden candlestick and table of shewbread;
and last of all, the Holy of Holies, the secret place, the mystic abiding-place of the
eternal God. And every Jew thought reverently and almost awfully of that secret,
silent place where God dwelt between the cherubim. He turned towards it, he
worshipped towards it, his desire moved towards it; it was the mysterious centre of
his adoration and service. And that arrangement and apportionment of the Temple
became to the Psalmist the type and the symbol of human life. Life could be all
outside, or it could spend itself in outer courts, on the mere fringe of being, or it
could have a secret place where everything found significance and interpretation
and value in the mysterious fellowship of God. That seems to be the primary
meaning of life “in the secret place”; it is life abandoning the mere outside of things,
refusing to dwell in the outer halls and passages of the stately temple of being, and
centralizing itself in that mysterious interior of things where “cherubim and
seraphim continually do cry, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.”

The necessity of an inward stillness hath appeared clear to my mind. In true silence
strength is renewed, and the mind is weaned from all things, save as they may be
enjoyed in the Divine will; and a lowliness in outward living, opposite to worldly
honour, becomes truly acceptable to us. In the desire after outward gain the mind is
prevented from a perfect attention to the voice of Christ; yet being weaned from all
things, except as they may be enjoyed in the Divine will, the pure light shines into
the soul. Where the fruits of the spirit which is of this world are brought forth by
many who profess to be led by the Spirit of truth, and cloudiness is felt to be
gathering over the visible church, the sincere in heart, who abide in true stillness,
and are exercised therein before the Lord for His name’s sake, have knowledge of
Christ in the fellowship of His sufferings; and inward thankfulness is felt at times,
that through Divine love our own wisdom is cast out, and that forward, active part
in us is subjected, which would rise and do something without the pure leadings of
the spirit of Christ.1 [ ote: The Journal of John Woolman, 29.]
Don’t be too much taken up with excitements social and intellectual. The depths of
life are still and ought not to be ruffled by every wanton breeze, else they lose the
capacity which they ought to possess of being that centre of rest, and peace, and
content, to which we can withdraw when wearied of the world which is too much
with us. Life to be worth anything at all must have a moral basis. After all, it is the
root of the matter, unless the universe was made in jest.2 [ ote: Memoir of Robert
Herbert Story, 401.]
3. The Church is, in God’s idea, a home where we recover from the fatigue of effort,
when we take a new hold of high purposes from which our hand had slackened; a
place of compensations; a place from which we see our life more truly, for we see
more than itself. Here, in this house, we may feel something, some one, even God, in
the form and manner of Jesus Christ, coming between us and the things which
would dishearten us and work despair. Here we may sit under a shadow, under the
shadow of thought and faith. Here we may come under the rebuke and deliverance
of high and unworldly considerations; here we may receive the emancipation which
comes the moment we adopt the spiritual view and seek not our own will but the will
of God. To seek the face of God in worship is the instinct of the soul which has
become aware of itself and its surroundings. Life and death are the great preachers.
It is they who ring the church bells. That instinct for God, that instinct for the
shadow, will never pass away. It may only become perverted and debased. The
foundation—which is man’s need for God, for guidance, for cleansing, for support,
and that again is but God’s search for man, God’s overtures to man—the
foundation standeth sure.
Whatever temple science may build there will always need to be hard by a Gothic
chapel for wounded souls.1 [ ote: F. Paulsen, Ethics.]
“A little chamber” built “upon the wall,”
With stool and table, candlestick and bed,
Where he might sit, or kneel, or lay his head

At night or sultry noontide: this was all
A prophet’s need: but in that chamber small
What mighty prayers arose, what grace was shed,
What gifts were given—potent to wake the dead,
And from its viewless flight a soul recall!
And still what miracles of grace are wrought
In many a lonely chamber with shut door,
Where God our Father is in secret sought,
And shows Himself in mercy more and more!
Dim upper rooms with God’s own glory shine,
And souls are lifted to the life Divine.2 [ ote: R. Wilton.]
4. The secret place is not to be limited to a particular locality, but means nearness to
God, the close fellowship into which the soul enters, the inner circle of communion
in which the soul realizes vividly the Divine presence. Some may associate such
communion with one locality, and some with another, according to their individual
experience. But this matters not. The essential thing is the nearness of the soul to
God, its entering into His presence with the full consciousness that He graciously
regards it, and will hear its prayer and accept its homage, breathing its feelings and
desires into His ear, and spreading all its case before Him. His is not that distant
and formal intercourse which one man may hold with another when, in the open
and crowded places of the city, they have to restrain themselves because of being
exposed to the observation of others; it is that intimate and unrestrained intercourse
which friend holds with friend when they meet in privacy, where no other eye sees
or ear hears, and each communicates to the other not the things which are open to
public observation, but the secret and hidden feelings of the heart. Reverently,
although freely and confidently, does the worshipper in the secret place speak to
God as a child to its father, giving expression to all his feelings, whatsoever they may
be.
“Fellowship with the living God,” says Andrew Bonar in his graphic little sketch of
Samuel Rutherford, “is a little distinguishing feature in the holiness given by the
Holy Ghost.… Rutherford could sometimes say, ‘I have been so near Him, that I
have said I take instruments (documents by way of attestation) that this is the Lord,’
and he could from experience declare, ‘I dare avouch, the saints know not the length
and largeness of the sweet earnest, and of the sweet green sheaves before the
harvest, that might be had on this side of the water, if we only took more pains.’ …
All this,” adds Bonar suggestively, “is from the pen of a man who was a
metaphysician, a controversialist, a leader in the Church, and learned in ancient
scholastic lore.”
Where is that secret place of the Most High?
And who is He? Where shall we look for Him
That dwelleth there? Between the cherubim,
That o’er the seat of grace, with constant eye,
And outspread wing, brood everlastingly?
Or shall we seek that deeper meaning dim,

And as we may, walk, flutter, soar, and swim,
From deep to deep of the void, fathomless sky?
Oh! seek not there the secret of the Lord
In what hath been, or what may never be;
But seek the shadow of the mystic word—
The shadow of a truth thou canst not see:
There build thy nest, and, like a nestling bird,
Find all thy safety in thy secrecy.1 [ ote: Hartley Coleridge.]
5. How are we to maintain our life of fellowship with God? How are we to dwell in
the Secret Place? The Psalmist doubtless would find guidance in the ways and
ministries of the Temple.
(1) The spirit of reverence must be cherished. There was to be no tramping in the
sacred courts. He was to move quietly, as in the presence of something august and
unspeakable. And that is the very first requisite if we would dwell in the secret
place—the reverent spirit and the reverent step. The man who strides through life
with flippant tramp will never get beyond the outer courts. He may “get on,” he will
never “get in”; he may find here and there an empty shell, he will never find “the
pearl of great price.” Irreverence can never open the gate into the secret place.
(2) The second thing requisite in the Temple ministry to any one who sought the
fellowship of the secret place was the spirit of sacrifice. o man was permitted to
come empty-handed in his movements towards the secret place. “Bring an offering,
and come into his courts.” And in that Temple-ministry the Psalmist would
recognize another of the essential requisites if he would dwell in the secret place.
That offering meant that a man must surrender all that he possesses, of gifts and
goods, to his quest of the central things of life. For there is this strange thing about
the strait gate which opens into the secret place: it is too strait for the man who
brings nothing; it is abundantly wide for the man who brings his all. o man
deserves the hallowed intimacies of life, the holy tabernacle of the Most High, who
does not bring upon the errand all that he is, and all that he has. Life’s crown
demands life’s all.
(3) And other Temple-ministries in which the Psalmist would find principles of
guidance would be the requirement of prayer and praise. “Sing unto the Lord a new
song.” Such was to be one of the exercises of those who sought the grace and favour
of the holy place. They were to come wearing the garment of praise. And therefore
the Psalmist knew that praise was to be one of the means by which he was to possess
the intimacies of the secret place. And praise is still one of the ministries by which
we reach the central heart of things, the hallowed abode where we come to share
“the secret of the Lord.” And praise is not fawning upon God, flattering Him, piling
up words of empty eulogy; it is the hallowed contemplation of the greatness of God,
and the grateful appreciation of the goodness of God. And with praise there goes
prayer—the recognition of our dependence upon the Highest, the fellowship of
desire, the humble speech which cooperates in the reception and distribution of
grace.

“I passed my time in great peace, content to spend the remainder of my life there, if
such should be the will of God. I employed part of my time in writing religious
songs. I, and my maid La Gautière, who was with me in prison, committed them to
heart as fast as I made them. Together we sang praises to Thee, O our God! It
sometimes seemed to me as if I were a little bird whom the Lord had placed in a
cage, and that I had nothing to do now but to sing. The joy of my heart gave a
brightness to the objects around me. The stones of my prison looked in my eyes like
rubies. I esteemed them more than all the gaudy brilliancies of a vain world. My
heart was full of that joy which Thou givest to them who love Thee in the midst of
their greatest crosses.”1 [ ote: Madame Guyon, in Life, by T. C. Upham.]
Let praise devote thy work and skill employ
Thy whole mind, and thy heart be lost in joy.
Well-doing bringeth pride, this constant thought
Humility, that thy best done is naught.
Man doeth nothing well, be it great or small,
Save to praise God; but that hath saved all:
For God requires no more than thou hast done,
And takes thy work to bless it for His own.2 [ ote: R. Bridges.]
The wise man will act like the bee, and he will fly out in order to settle with care,
intelligence, and prudence on all the gifts and on all the sweetness which he has
experienced, and on all the good which God has done to him; and through the rays
of the sun and his own inward observation he will experience a multitude of
consolations and blessings. And he will not rest on any flower of all these gifts, but,
laden with gratitude and praise, he will fly back again toward the home in which he
longs to dwell and rest for evermore with God.3 [ ote: M. Maeterlinck, Ruysbroeck
and the Mystics, 130.]
II
Under His Shadow
The man who commits himself to God, and dwells in Him, has this promise, that he
will abide under the shadow of the Almighty. There are two names of God used in
the text, “The Most High” and “The Almighty”; and when we remember the deep
religious significance which the different names of God had for the Hebrew, and the
careful way in which they are used throughout the whole of the Old Testament, so
that in general it is true that that name of God is used which alone serves to indicate
the particular aspect of God’s character or government upon which the writer
wished to lay stress; when we remember this, we are justified in looking for a
meaning in the distinction between the two names of God used here. The man to
whom the promise is made seeks to dwell in the secret place of “the Most High.” He
seeks to be near God as the “Most High” God, the God of surpassing excellence. He
desires the company of Him who is “Most High” because He is most holy. The
character which he contemplates in God is not so much His power as His holiness.
He desires to be near God, not because of what God can do for him, but because of
what God is; it is in the thought of God’s goodness that he rests secure. It is the
holiness of Jehovah that attracts him; it is the beauty of the Lord his God that he
would behold continually. To the man who thus disinterestedly seeks after Him God

will reveal Himself in the character of the Almighty. The power of the Almighty
shall be round about him. “Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I
deliver him; I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.” This man is
to “abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”
This wonderful Psalm has always been a favourite with the Mystic and the Quietist.
For it expresses what we may call the Beatitude of the Inner Circle. Most religions
have distinguished carefully between the rank and file of the faithful, and that select
company of initiates who taste the hidden wisdom and have access to the secret
shrine. From the nature of the case some such distinction exists even in the Kingdom
of Heaven. Christ Himself allowed a difference between “His own friends” and
those many disciples who are servants still. Only we must never forget on what this
difference depends. The Father, who is Lord of heaven and earth, has seen good to
hide His secrets from the wise and prudent, and to reveal them unto babes. While
from the inmost sanctuary of Christian experience a Voice cries continually,
“Whosoever will let him come freely—if he be content to come as a little child.”1
[ ote: T. H. Darlow, The Upward Calling, 38.]
1. What does the Psalmist mean by “abiding under the shadow”? Does he mean to
say that the shadow of the Almighty rests on the secret place? At first sight it would
seem so, but such a conclusion would not be in harmony with the trend of thought
throughout the Psalm. What he appears really to teach is that, when a man
regularly communes with God in secret, then, wherever he goes, the shadow of the
Almighty shall rest upon him, and in times of trial and danger shall shelter and
protect him. As the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night went before
the children of Israel, and was both a guide and a shelter to them, so the shadow of
the Almighty shall ever rest upon those who dwell in the secret place of the Most
High. A shadow is produced when some object intercepts the light. Here it
represents God placing Himself in front of the sun, to screen His people from heat.
The sun shall not smite them by day, nor the moon by night.
The last poems of Miss Havergal are published with the title, Under His Shadow,
and the preface gives the reason for the name. She said, “I should like the title to be,
Under His Shadow. I seem to see four pictures by that: under the shadow of a rock
in a weary plain; under the shadow of a tree; closer still, under the shadow of His
wing; nearest and closest, in the shadow of His hand. Surely that hand must be the
pierced hand, that may oftentimes press us sorely, and yet evermore encircling,
upholding, and shadowing.”1 [ ote: C. H. Spurgeon, Till He Come, 23.]
2. ow it is one thing to be touched by the shadow of the Almighty, another to abide
within that shadow. One has not lived long, or has lived only on the surface, who has
never for a moment been touched by the shadow of God. It may have fallen upon us
in one or other of several experiences. It may have come to us in some reverse of
fortune, in some change in our prospects. Or it may have come to us in some bodily
illness or the threatening of some illness. Or it may have come to us, as so much with
regard to the unseen world comes to us all, in the great silence of a bereavement.
But there is probably not one of adult years who has not had at least one experience

which has touched him to the quick and has brought him for the time being face to
face with God. And yet, if we are strict with ourselves, we shall have to confess that
as the trouble eased the high seriousness which it brought began to pass away, so
that probably not one of us has worked out into our life and character the holy
intentions which we proposed to ourselves on a certain day when our heart was sore.
We have lost from ourselves a certain dignity, a certain superiority to the world
which was ours in days that we can still recall, when some suspense was keeping our
heart open, when in some precious concern of our life we were depending utterly
upon God for something. To be touched—that is the work of God, the work of life
upon us; whereas to abide requires the consent of our will. In order to abide it needs
that the whole man, who knows that in the personal crisis God was singling him out,
shall live henceforth by the wisdom and calling of that hour. It needs that he shall
depart from all the iniquity which the light of that holy hour revealed to him.
The original meaning of the word here translated “abide” is “to wrap up in a
garment for warmth and rest during the cool of the night.” The reflexive form of the
verb is here used: “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall wrap
himself round in the shadow of the God of Might.” earness to God is to be to him
as the garment which the traveller wraps around him as he goes to sleep in the
desert, when the chills of night descend. God’s immediate presence is to be wrapped
round about him for his protection.1 [ ote: A. S. Renton.]
3. God’s protection does not mean exemption from outward calamities. But there is
an evil in the calamity that will never come near the man who is sheltered under
God’s wing. The physical external event may be entirely the same to him as to
another who is not covered with His feathers. Here are two partners in a business;
the one is a Christian man, and the other is not. A common disaster overwhelms
them. They become bankrupts. Is insolvency the same to the one as it is to the other?
Here are two men on board a ship, the one putting his trust in God, the other
thinking it all nonsense to trust anything but himself. They are both drowned. Is
drowning the same to the two? As their corpses lie side by side, you may say of the
one, but only of the one, “There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague
come nigh thy dwelling.” For the protection that is granted to faith is to be
understood only by faith.
“If you believe in God,” wrote Robert Louis Stevenson, “where is there any more
room for terror? If you are sure that God, in the long-run, means kindness by you,
you should be happy.” Fighting a losing battle with death, he wrote: “The tragedy of
things works itself out blacker and blacker. Does it shake my cast-iron faith? I
cannot say that it does. I believe in an ultimate decency of things; aye, and if I woke
in hell, should still believe it.” Let us thank God for the faith of that high and brave
soldier of suffering, going up and down the earth in quest of health, and singing as
he went:
If to feel in the ink of the slough,
And sink of the mire,
Veins of glory and fire

Run through and transpierce and transpire,
And a secret purpose of glory in every part,
And the answering glory of battle fill my heart;
To thrill with the joy of girded men,
To go on forever and fail and go on again,
And be mauled to the earth and arise,
And contend for the shade of a word and a thing not seen with the eyes:
With the half of a broken hope for a pillow at night;
That somehow the right is the right
And the smooth shall bloom from the rough:
Lord, if that were enough?
4. But the promise is absolutely true in a far higher region—the region of spiritual
defence. For no man who lies under the shadow of God, and has his heart filled with
the continual consciousness of that Presence, is likely to fall before the assaults of
evil that tempt him away from God; and the defence which He gives in that region is
yet more magnificently impregnable than the defence which He gives against
external evils. For, as the ew Testament teaches us, we are kept from sin, not by
any outward breastplate or armour, not even by the Divine wing lying above us to
cover us, but by the indwelling Christ in our hearts. His Spirit within us makes us
“free from the law of sin and death,” and conquerors over all temptations. Every
step taken into a higher, holier life secures a completer immunity from the power of
evil. Virtually there is no temptation to those who climb high enough; they still
suffer the trial of their faith and principle, but they have no evil thought, no affinity
with evil; it exercises over them no fascination; it is to them as though it were not.
ever deal with temptation on low utilitarian grounds of health, reputation, or
interest. If you have a vice, convict it at Sinai; arraign it at the bar of the Judgment
Day; make it ashamed of itself at the feet of Christ; blind it with heaven; scorch it
with hell; take it into the upper air where it cannot get its breath, and choke it.
And chok’st thou not him in the upper air
His strength he will still on the earth repair.
Migratory birds invisible to the eye have been detected by the telescope crossing the
disc of the sun six miles above the earth. They have found one of the secret places of
the Most High; far above the earth, invisible to the human eye, hidden in the light,
they were delightfully safe from the fear of evil. Thus it is with the soul that soars
into the heavenly places; no arrow can reach it, no fowler betray it, no creature of
prey make it afraid: it abides in the shadow of the Almighty.1 [ ote: W. L.
Watkinson, The Ashes of Roses, 117.]
How good it is, when weaned from all beside,
With God alone the soul is satisfied,
Deep hidden in His heart!
How good it is, redeemed, and washed, and shriven,
To dwell, a cloistered soul, with Christ in heaven,
Joined, never more to part!
How good the heart’s still chamber thus to close
On all but God alone—

There in the sweetness of His love repose,
His love unknown!
All else for ever lost—forgotten all
That else can be;
In rapture undisturbed, O Lord, to fall
And worship Thee.2 [ ote: Frances Bevan, Hymns of Ter Steegen, 36.]
ELLICOTT, "Verse 1
PSALM 91
THE SECURITY OF HIM WHO TRUSTS I GOD
"Jewish tradition assigns this psalm to Moses, an assignment which Dr. Kay and
others accept as borne out by the facts."[1] We fail to be impressed with the current
fashion of late-dating many psalms upon considerations which, at best, are very
precarious and questionable.
One rather perplexing characteristic of this psalm was mentioned by Maclaren,
"There are sudden and bewildering changes of persons, from first person to second
person, etc., in which `He,' `I' and `thou' alternate."[2] The context usually affords
the clue to what is meant and who is the speaker, or the one spoken to.
The paragraphing that we follow here is that of Briggs.[3]
Security of the True Worshipper of God
Psalms 91:1-4
"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of Jehovah, He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in whom I trust.
For he will deliver thee from the snare of the fowler,
And from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover thee with his pinions,
And under his wings shalt thou take refuge;
His truth is a shield and a buckler."
"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High" (Psalms 91:1). "`The secret

place' is here generally understood to mean `the temple' or `tabernacle,' but `one's
dwelling there' is not a reference to persons actually living in the temple. It seems
rather to mean those who consistently worship the God who is enshrined there, or
to, "Those who make the temple of God their habitual resort."[4]
"He will deliver thee" (Psalms 91:3). Two perils are mentioned here, (1) the snare of
the fowler, and (2) the deadly pestilence. Both of these indicate the type of peril that
is unseen, striking the strong and the weak alike. "The snare of the fowler is a
metaphor for evil plots,"[5] that might inflict loss or even death. The other danger
here is "the deadly pestilence." The human race is never exempt from the ravages of
mortal illnesses that come about from the spread of infectious diseases. The `Black
Death' (the bubonic plague) of the 14th Century wiped out the majority of the
population of Europe; and Durant declared that, "One-fourth of the population of
the civilized world perished, the deaths in Europe alone reaching 25,000,000."[6]
The great pestilence of 1918 was the swine flu which wiped out more people in the
United States than our nation lost in World War I.
The threat of such things, held partially in check by the diligence of the medical
profession, is nevertheless perpetual. All kinds of fatal diseases lie submerged within
the microscopic life surrounding all men, and any of these may break forth at any
time. A recent example is AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome).
"He will cover thee" (Psalms 91:4). God's protection of his own is assured in words
such as these. From the ew Testament, we learn that God's children are by no
means to be protected from death from every threat and at all times. What is meant
is that God will protect them even "through death." Our Lord spoke of Christians
who would even be put to death, saying, "But not a hair of your head shall perish"
(Luke 21:18).
This does not deny that the Providence of God does indeed provide protection from
the most terrible dangers for those who truly love him, doing so now in this present
earthly life.
CO STABLE, "1. The security God provides91:1-2
God Himself is the One who is the believer"s security. The unknown psalmist
described Him as the Most High (Sovereign Ruler) and the Almighty (One having
all power). Those who rely on Him find that He is a shelter from the storms of life
and a shadowy place of security, much like the area under a bird"s wing. He is a
refuge where we can run for safety in times of danger and a fortress that will
provide defense against attacking foes.
This wisdom psalm focuses on security in life, an idea present in Psalm 90. The
writer knew that God provides security. It is a psalm for situations involving
danger, exposure, or vulnerability.

"This remarkable psalm speaks with great specificity, and yet with a kind of
porousness, so that the language is enormously open to each one"s particular
experience. Its tone is somewhat instructional, as though reassuring someone else
who is unsure. Yet the assurance is not didactic, but confessional. It is a personal
testimony of someone whose own experience makes the assurance of faith
convincing and authentic." [ ote: Brueggemann, p156.]
EXPOSITORS DICTIO ARY OF TEXTS, "God"s Inner Circle
Psalm 91:1
This wonderful Psalm has always been a favourite with the mystic and quietist. For
it expresses what we may call the Beatitude of the Inner Circle. Most religions have
distinguished carefully between the rank and file of the faithful, and that select
company of initiates who taste the hidden wisdom and have access to the secret
shrine. From the nature of the case some such distinction exists even in the kingdom
of heaven. Christ Himself allowed a difference between "His own friends" and those
many disciples who are servants still. Only we must never forget on what this
difference depends.... The Father who is Lord of heaven and earth has seen good to
hide His secrets from the wise and prudent, and to reveal them unto babes.
I. As we recognize the reality of this Inner Circle of souls enlightened and initiated,
these verses suggest some signs and tokens which characterize those who not merely
wear their Lord"s livery, but are actual courtiers in the palace of the Great King.
We may say that they are more at home with God than other Christians, and they
are also more alone with God. These dwellers in the secret place of the Most High
are like children at home there, who have received the Spirit whereby they say
always, "Abba—that Isaiah , Father".
II. Such spiritual intimacy requires a spiritual privacy as well. To come close to God
means not merely to be withdrawn from the noise and glare of the world, but also to
be embraced in that shadow with which the uncreated height softens His glory to
our eyes. For those who are thus brought near to their Father in heaven, there rises
a strange delight in remembering the Divine Omnipotence. They exult in His power
and might, His majesty and dominion.
III. And thus it comes to pass that the self-same attributes of God which daunt and
repel us at a distance, are transformed into our very shelter and joy when once He
covers us with His feathers. "Thou shalt not be afraid." o promise is oftener
repeated and ratified to the childlike soul. Those who belong to God"s Inner Circle
bear on their countenances the seal that they are quiet from fear of evil, that they
have gained the victory over terror and dismay.
IV. In God"s Inner Circle the childlike spirit is made one with the will and the love
of the Almighty Father. And herein lies our security and refuge against whatsoever
may await us in this world or in any other.

—T. H. Darlow, The Upward Galling, p38.
EBC, "THE solemn sadness of Psalms 90:1-17 is set in strong relief by the sunny
brightness of this song of happy, perfect trust in the Divine protection. The
juxtaposition is, however, probably due to the verbal coincidence of the same
expression being used in both psalms in reference to God. In Psalms 90:1 and in
Psalms 91:9, the somewhat unusual designation "dwelling place" is applied to Him.
and the thought conveyed in it runs through the whole of this psalm.
An outstanding characteristic of it is its sudden changes of persons; "He," "I," and
"thou" alternate in a bewildering fashion, which has led to many attempts at
explanation. One point is clear-that, in Psalms 91:14-16, God speaks, and that He
speaks of, not to, the person who loves and clings to Him. At Psalms 91:14, then, we
must suppose a change of speaker, which is unmarked by any introductory formula.
Looking back over the remainder of the psalm, we find that the bulk of it is
addressed directly to a person who must be the same as is spoken of in the Divine
promises. The "him" of the latter is the "thee" of the mass of the psalm. But this
mass is broken at two points by clauses alike in meaning, and containing expressions
of trust (Psalms 91:2,, Psalms 91:9 a). Obviously the unity of the psalm requires that
the "I" of these two verses should be the "thou" of the great portion of the psalm,
and the "he" of the last part. Each profession of trust will then be followed by
assurances of safety thence resulting. Psalms 91:2 having for pendant Psalms 91:3-8,
and Psalms 91:9 a being followed by Psalms 91:9-13. The two utterances of personal
faith are substantially identical, and the assurances which succeed them are also in
effect the same. It is by some supposed that this alternation of persons is due simply
to the poet expressing partly "his own feelings as from himself, and partly as if they
were uttered by another" (Perowne after Ewald). But that is not an explanation of
the structure; it is only a statement of the structure which requires to be explained.
o doubt the poet is expressing his own feelings or convictions all through the
psalm: but why does he express them in this singular fashion?
The explanation which is given by Delitzsch, Stier, Cheyne and many others takes
the psalm to be antiphonal, and distributes the parts among the voices of a choir,
with some variations in the allocation.
But Psalms 91:1 still remains a difficulty. As it stands it sounds flat and tautological,
and hence attempts have been made to amend it, which will presently be referred to.
But it will fall into the general antiphonal scheme, if it is regarded as a prelude, sung
by the same voice which twice answers the single singer with choral assurances that
reward his trust. We, then. have this distribution of parts: Psalms 91:1, the broad
statement of the blessedness of dwelling with God; Psalms 91:2, a solo, the voice of a
heart encouraged thereby to exercise personal trust; Psalms 91:3-8, answers, setting
forth the security of such a refuge; Psalms 91:9 a, solo, reiterating with sweet
monotony the word of trust; Psalms 91:9-13, the first voice or chorus repeating with
some variation the assurances of Psalms 91:3-8; and Psalms 91:14-16, God’s
acceptance of the trust and confirmation of the assurances.

There is, no doubt, difficulty in Psalms 91:1; for, if it is taken as an independent
sentence, it sounds tautological, since there is no well-marked difference between
"sitting" and "lodging," nor much between "secret place" and "shadow." But
possibly the idea of safety is more strongly conveyed by "shadow" than by "secret
place," and the meaning of the apparently identical assertion may be, that he who
quietly enters into communion with God thereby passes into His protection; or, as
Kay puts it, "Loving faith on man’s part shall be met by faithful love on God’s
part." The LXX changes the person of "will say" in Psalms 91:2, and connects it
with Psalms 91:1 as its subject ("He that sits, that lodges shall say"). Ewald,
followed by Baethgen and others, regards Psalms 91:1 as referring to the "I" of
Psalms 91:2, and translates "Sitting I say." Hupfeld, whom Cheyne follows, cuts the
knot by assuming that "Blessed is" has dropped out at the beginning of Psalms 91:1,
and so gets a smooth run of construction and thought ("Happy is he who sits who
lodges who says). It is suspiciously smooth, obliterates the characteristic change of
persons, of which the psalm has other instances, and has no support except the
thought that the psalmist would have saved us a great deal of trouble, if he had only
been wise enough to have written so. The existing text is capable of a meaning in
accordance with his general drift. A wide declaration like that of Psalms 91:1
fittingly preludes the body of the song, and naturally evokes the pathetic profession
of faith which follows.
SIMEO , "THE BLESSED ESS OF GOD’S PEOPLE
Psalms 91:1-4. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide
under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my
fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of
the fowler and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers,
and, under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
TO unfold the doctrines and duties of our holy religion is a matter of indispensable
necessity to every one who would discharge the ministerial office with acceptance.
Yet it is not necessary that a minister should always be laying the foundation of
repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ: there are times and
seasons when he should “go on unto perfection [ ote: Hebrews 6:1.],” and exhibit
Christianity in its highest stages of practical efficiency. The psalm before us will
afford us ample scope for this. The words which we have just read are somewhat
disconnected: but a slight alteration in the translation, whilst it will not affect the
sense of the passage, will cast a light and beauty over it, and render it doubly
interesting to us all. Two prelates of our Church agree in reading the passage thus:
“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, that abideth under the
shadow of the Almighty; that saith of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress; my
God, in whom I will trust.” Then the Psalmist, instead of proceeding regularly with
his speech, breaks off, and in an apostrophe addresses the person whom he has been
describing; “Surely he shall deliver thee [ ote: Bishop Lowth and Bishop Horne,
See Bishop Home on the place.],” &c. &c. According to this rendering, we have a
clear exposition of the character and blessedness of every true believer. Let us
consider, then,

I. His character—
He is not described either by his religious creed or by his moral conduct. We are led
to view him rather in his secret walk with God: and in this view his character is
portrayed,
1. Figuratively
[It will be remembered that God dwelt by a visible symbol of his presence in the
tabernacle; and that the high-priest on the great day of annual atonement went
within the veil, and abode there till he had sprinkled the blood of his sacrifices upon
the mercy-seat, and covered the mercy-seat with his incense. ow, what he did
corporeally once in the year, the true Christian does spiritually every day in the
year; for through Christ we all are “made kings and priests unto our God.” Paint to
yourselves, then, the high-priest in his occasional access to God; and there you see
the Christian going continually within the veil, or rather habitually dwelling there,
and “making God himself his habitation [ ote: ver. 9.].” And truly this is “a secret
place,” of which an unconverted man has no conception: it is “the secret of God’s
pavilion, the secret of his tabernacle [ ote: Psalms 27:5.].” But we must divest
ourselves of the notion of locality: for this place is wherever God manifests his more
immediate presence: and therefore David beautifully calls it, “the secret of his
presence [ ote: Psalms 31:20.].” There the Believer dwells: and, O! who can
conceive “the fellowship which he there enjoys with God the Father and with the
Lord Jesus Christ [ ote: 1 John 1:3.];” whilst they, with condescending and
affectionate endearment, come to him, and abidingly feast with him [ ote: John
14:21; John 14:23. Revelation 3:20.]. In truth, the communion between God and the
soul is such as no language can cunvey: it is nothing less than a mutual in-dwelling,
resembling that which subsists between the Father and the Son; they being in God,
and God in them; yea, and being one with God, and God with them [ ote: Compare
John 6:56 and 1 John 4:15-16. with John 17:21-23.] — — — This is a mercy which
the Believer alone enjoys. But some little idea of it may be formed from the favour
conferred upon the camp of Israel in the wilderness. The cloudy pillar led them in
all their way, affording them shade by day from the heat of the burning sun, and
light throughout the night season. To no other people under heaven was this ever
vouchsafed. And so it is with the camp of the true Israelites at this day: they, and
they only, behold the light of God’s countenance in the nightseason of adversity; and
they alone are sheltered from every thing that would oppress and overwhelm their
souls; as it is written, “The Lord will create upon every dwelling-place of Mount
Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a
flaming file by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence [ ote: Isaiah 4:5.].”]
2. In plain terms—
[The workings of his mind, under all the trials and difficulties which he has to
encounter, are here set forth. He is convinced that no created arm can be sufficient
for him. Hence he directs his eyes towards the Creator himself, and saith of him,

“He is my refuge” from every trouble: “He is my fortress” against every assailant:
“He is my God,” all whose powers and perfections shall be employed for me. “In
Him will I trust,” in Him only and exclusively; in Him always, under all
circumstances; in Him, with perfect confidence and unshaken affiance. The man is
not like the ungodly world, who know not what to do, and are at their wit s end
when trouble comes: he is “in the secret place of the Most High;” and, where others
can see nothing, he beholds “chariots of fire and horses of fire all around him [ ote:
2 Kings 6:17.],” or, rather, he beholds “God himself as a wall of fire round about
him [ ote: Zechariah 2:5.],” and has the very glory of God resting on him [ ote: 1
Peter 4:14.]. Thus is the true Believer distinguished from all others: “he beholds
Him who is invisible [ ote: Hebrews 11:27.];” and walks us in his immediate
presence, saying, “If God be for me, who can be against me?”
Shall this be thought an exaggerated description? I do not say that the Divine
presence is equally realized by all, or by any equally at all times: there are seasons
when a Peter may be “of little faith [ ote: Matthew 14:31.];” and a Paul may need a
special revelation for his support, saying to him, “Be not afraid; but speak, and hold
not thy peace; for I am with thee; and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee [ ote:
Acts 18:9-10,].” evertheless, in the general habit of their mind, their language is
like that of David; “I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, in
whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. I
will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine
enemies [ ote: Psalms 18:1-3.].”]
With such views of the believer’s character, you can have no doubt of,
II. His blessedness—
Here let the abruptness of the address be borne in mind. The Psalmist, instead of
proceeding, as might have been expected, to declare the blessings which a person of
this description should receive, addresses himself to that person in these animated
terms: “Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from the
noisome pestilence; he shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt
thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.” now, in these terms, he, in the
very name of God himself, and in the most assured manner, pledges to him the
protection,
1. Of God’s power—
[If war were raging in our country; or pestilence, like that which desolated Judea
after David had numbered the people, and which probably gave occasion to this
psalm, were carrying off multitudes all around us; we should enter more fully into
the subject before us, and see more forcibly the exalted privileges of the true
Believer. But we must remember that there is a moral “pestilence” raging all around
us, and sweeping myriads into the pit of destruction. We should remember, too, that
there is a spiritual “fowler,” who entangles, in his net, millions, unwary as the silly
bird, and “leads them captive at his will [ ote: 2 Timothy 2:26. τοῦ διαβύλου

παγίδος ἐζωγρηµένοι.].” What is the example of men in every walk of life, but one
deadly contagion, from which it is almost impossible to escape? And what are those
lusts and temptations with which we are continually beset, but baits, whereby the
devil seeketh to ensnare us to our everlasting ruin? And who can preserve us from
these snares, but God himself? Little will human wisdom or power avail against
such potent enemies. Peter imagined himself secure enough from denying his Lord,
when he formed so steadfast a resolution respecting it: but, as our Lord had
forewarned him, “the cock did not crow twice, till he had denied him thrice.” And
whomsoever Satan should get into his sieve, he would prove us all to be chaff, if we
should be left without timely succour from on high [ ote: Luke 22:31.], But “God
will keep the feet of his saints [ ote: 1 Samuel 2:9.],” and not suffer them to fall a
prey to the destroyer. The care of a hen over her brood is well known. When a bird
of prey is hovering over them, she calls them under her wings, and there preserves
them in perfect safety. The bird of prey, when searching for them, can behold
nothing but the dam. Thus will God preserve his people from all their enemies: “He
will cover them with his feathers, and under his wings shall they trust:” yea, “their
lives shall be hid with Christ in God,” beyond the reach of harm: and because
“Christ himself is their life, when he shall appear, they also shall appear with him in
glory [ ote: Colossians 3:3-4.].” What was done by God for Israel in the wilderness,
shall be done by him for every soul that puts its trust in him [ ote: Deuteronomy
32:9-12.] — — —]
2. Of his faithfulness—
[For every believer the very truth of God is pledged; and “life is promised” to him
by a “God who cannot lie [ ote: Titus 1:2.].” It is not said that the believer shall not
be tempted, or “be in heaviness through manifold temptations: but that he shall not
be finally overcome, God docs engage; as the Apostle says: “God is faithful, who will
not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also
make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it [ ote: 1 Corinthians 10:13.].”
Here, I say, the very faithfulness of God is pledged; and we may be sure, that “of all
the good things which he has promised to his people, not one shall ever fail [ ote:
Joshua 23:14.].” o doubt they may through weakness be overcome for a season, as
the lives of the most eminent saints but too clearly prove. But in such a case God has
told us how he will act towards them: “If his children forsake my law, and walk not
in my judgments; if they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; then
will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.
evertheless, my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my
faithfulness to fail; my covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out
of my lips: for once have I sworn by my holiness, that I will not lie unto David [ ote:
Psalms 89:30-35.].” Of course, we are not to understand this of one who sins wilfully
and habitually: for, whatever he may profess, he is no child of God, but a downright
hypocrite: but of the weakest of real saints it is spoken (and to him it shall assuredly
be fulfilled: for “it is not the will of our Father that one of his little ones should
perish [ ote: Matthew 18:14.].”]
For a just improvement of this passage, let it be remembered,

1. In what way alone we can have access to God—
[We have spoken of the believer as “dwelling in God:” but how came he into that
sanctuary? and where did he find a door of entrance? This is a point that should be
well understood. There is but one way to the Father; and that is by Christ. Our
blessed Lord himself tells us this, when he says, “I am the way, the truth, and the
life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me.” It must never be forgotten, that in
ourselves we are altogether departed from God; and that we can be “brought nigh
only by the blood of Jesus.” It was by the blood of his sacrifice alone, that the High
Priest, of whom we have before spoken, could come into the holy place of the Most
High [ ote: Hebrews 9:7.]: and it is by the blood of Jesus alone that we can venture
into the holiest [ ote: Hebrews 10:19.], or presume to ask any thing at the hands of
God [ ote: Hebrews 10:20-22.]. I beseech you, therefore, to bear this in
remembrance, and never to call God yours, until you have come to him in his
appointed way — — —]
2. What is that kind of confidence which we ought to maintain—
[It must not be presumptuous confidence, that overlooks the use of means or
supersedes the necessity of holy fear. Satan could not be better served than by such
confidence as that. And hence it was, that, in tempting our blessed Lord, he cited
this very psalm, and urged a part of it as a warrant for him to cast himself down
from a pinnacle of the temple; saying, “If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down:
for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands
they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone [ ote: ver.
11, 12. with Matthew 4:6.].” Our Lord’s reply to him shews us our duty in relation
to this matter; “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” We are not needlessly to
expose ourselves to dangers, in the expectation that God will preserve us: nor are we
to neglect the use of means, as though God were engaged to work miracles in our
behalf. We must be humble, watchful, diligent; as it is written, “Give all diligence to
make your calling and election sure.” God has, indeed, engaged to “give us both to
will and to do:” but, whilst we depend on him for his effectual aid, we must “work
out our own salvation with fear and trembling [ ote: Philippians 2:12-13.].” In
every step of our way to Zion, we must cry, “Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe.”]
3. What should be the frame of our minds after we have come to him—
[I have said, ‘We should fear;’ for “blessed is the man that feareth always.” But this
fear should temper, not weaken, our confidence in God. Hear what the Prophet
Isaiah says: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee;
because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord for. ever; for with the Lord
Jehovah is everlasting strength [ ote: Isaiah 26:3-4.].” St. Paul maintained to the
uttermost the fear of which we have been speaking; for he “kept under his body,
and brought it into subjection; lest that by any means, after he had preached to
others, he himself should be a cast-away [ ote: 1 Corinthians 9:27.].” But his
confidence in God was entire. He defied all the powers in the universe to separate

him from the love of God [ ote: Romans 8:33-39.] — — — And you, also, may
possess the same blessed hope, “knowing in whom you have believed [ ote: 2
Timothy 1:12.],” and assured that none shall ever pluck you out of the Saviour’s
hands [ ote: John 10:28.].]
BI 1-16, "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the
shadow of the Almighty.
A song of faith
I. The solitary voice of faith. “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High”—
how high up that “secret place” must be; how deep the silence up there; how pure the
air! How far above the poisonous mists that cling to the low-lying swamps; how far out
of the reach of the arrows or shots of the foeman, is he that dwelleth with God by
communion, by constancy of desire, by aspiration, and by clear recognition of the Divine
goal of all his work! “He that dwelleth” thus, “in the secret place of the Most High, shall
abide under the shadow of the Almighty”—and since He is Almighty the long shadow
that that great rock casts will shelter him who keeps beneath it from the burning rays of
the fiery sunshine, in every “ weary land.” Let me keep myself in touch with God, and I
keep myself master of all things, and secure from the evil that is in evil.
II. The great assurances which answer to this solitary voice of faith. Now, is it true, as
the psalmist goes on to portray under a double figure of battle and pestilence, that the
man who thus trusts is saved from widespread calamities which may be devastating the
lines of a community? If we look on the surface it is not true. Those that “dwell in the
secret place of the Most High” will die of an epidemic—cholera, or smallpox—like the
men beside them that have no such abode. But, for all that, it is true! For suppose two
men, one a Christian, another not, both dying from the same epidemic. Yet the
difference between the two is such that we may confidently say of the one, “He that
believeth shall never die,” and of the other that he has died. It is irrelevant to talk about
vaccination being a better prophylactic than faith. No doubt this psalmist was thinking
mainly of physical life. No doubt, also, you and I have better means of interpreting and
understanding Providence and its dealings than he had. And for us the belief that they
who “dwell in the secret place of the Most High” are immune from death, is possible and
imperative, after a fashion far nobler and better than the psalmist could have dreamed.
We must remember Old Testament conditions when we read Old Testament promises,
and apply New Testament interpretations to Old Testament assurances. When we read,
“there shall no evil befall thee,” and think of our own harassed, tempest-tossed, often
sorrowful lives, and broken, solitary hearts, we must learn that the evil that educates is
not evil, and that the chastening of the Father’s hand is good; and that nothing that
brings a man nearer to God can be an enemy. The poison is wiped off the arrow, though
the arrow may mercifully wound; and the evil in the evil is all dissipated.
III. A deeper voice still coming in, and confirming the enlarging all these promises. God
Himself speaks, promising deliverance consequent upon fixed love. “Because he hath set
his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him.” As the word in the original suggests,
when a poor man presses himself close up against the Divine breast, as a dog might
against his master’s limbs, or one that loves might clasp close to himself the beloved,
then God responds to the desire for close contact, and in union He brings deliverance.
Further, He promises elevation consequent on acquaintance with Divine character. “I
will set him on high”—high above all the weltering flood of evil that washes vainly round
the base of the cliff—“because he hath known My name.” Loving acquaintance with the
revealed character of God lifts a man above earth and all its ills. Further, there is the

promise of Divine companionship consequent on sorrows. “I will be with him in
trouble.” Some of us know what that means, how we never get a glimpse of God until
earth was dark, and how when a devastating flood as it seemed came sweeping over the
fair gardens of our lives, we found, when it had gone back, that it had left fertility that we
knew nothing about before. “With long life will I satisfy him,” through the ages of
eternity, and “show him My salvation” in the glories of an immortal life. (A. Maclaren,
D.D.)
The special providence of God
Rarely, if anywhere, has faith made so complete a shield of God, or planted itself so
firmly within the circle of His defence. No wonder we find this psalm called in the
Talmud a “Song of Accidents,” that is, a talisman or prophylactic in times of danger. And
no wonder the ancient Church used it as its “Invocavit,” to rally and encourage the
hearts of the faithful in troublous and stormy times. The question is, How are we to
understand it? Is it true? Can a man, because he is a Christian, and fears God, count
upon such immunity as is here described? Does he lead a sort of charmed life, clothed
with impenetrable armour, which no shaft of pestilence can pierce, so that while
thousands or tens of thousands may fall at his right hand, he shall never be touched? We
know that it is not so. Is there, then, any way in which we can interpret it, so as to use it
with intelligence and profit to ourselves?
I. The difficulty we feel in connection with the psalm is not that it assumes a special
providence, as we call. It. This is taught everywhere in Scripture. It is difficult, indeed, to
see how there can be any providence at all if it does not condescend to particulars, and
take the individual, as well as the community or the race, into account. In the Old
Testament its primary concern is with Israel as a people, and with the individual only in
a subordinate and secondary degree. In the New Testament the individual is more
distinctly and definitely an object of Divine regard. He, and the community of which he
forms a part, are equally essential to one another, and that because the Church is not
moved and governed from without, but from within; and such a government is
impossible, except by the indwelling of the Spirit of God in the heart of each individual
believer.
II. The difficulty which meets us here, then, is not that of a special providence, but of the
manner in which it is said to act.
1. In the Old Testament the Divine providence was specially concerned in so guiding
and controlling the history of Israel, that in it as a nation the kingdom of God, or of
the Messias, should be realized. He was to judge the world with righteousness, and
the poor with judgment. His reign was to be an era of peace and prosperity which
should know no end. Those who were to be more immediately about Him, and to
occupy the chief places of honour and authority, were to be His own people, to whom
in a special sense He belonged. And round them, in ever-widening and more distant
circles, were to be the other inhabitants of earth, all under the sway of the same
benignant sceptre.
2. In the New Testament the point of view is entirely different. Religion is not
embodied in a national history, nor is the kingdom of God an earthly kingdom, as
even the disciples believed it would be up to the Day of Pentecost. Its essential
characteristics are spiritual—righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. What
made the difference? It was the Cross of Christ. On this stone of offence Israel had

Psalm 91 commentary

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